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The Fifth Annual Outsider Art Fair – Discovering the work of James Castle

Coming back into the Puck building on the cold afternoon of January 23rd I started to feel that wonderful buzz that one feels before the opening of a big marketing event. A combination of excitement, and expectation, mixed with a touch of anxiety realizing that in a couple of hours the throngs would be pouring in, and we would be off and running, either making it, or breaking it. The booth was set up and looked good, so I had a couple of hours to check out the show. The first thing I did was cross the aisle to have a closer look at some work which I had been noticing which was deceptively simple in it’s construction but very compelling. The entire booth of J Crist from Boise, Idaho was filled with the yet unknown work of James Castle (1900- 1977).

Jacqueline Crist who runs the gallery acts as agent for the artist’s estate and her gallery houses a considerable body of this particularly driven and prolific artist’s work. On this occasion she put “all of her eggs in one basket” and just brought works by Castle. Getting up close to the work, I became more and more enamored. Put together with spit, and soot and cardboard etc, the quantity and variety of his output is astonishing. I came to find out that he devoted himself virtually full time to his art for nearly seven decades. His drawings, assemblages, and handmade books are compellingly mysterious, and contain a confounding sophistication. Perhaps this quality is the essence of what attracts me to “outsider art”. In the case of James Castle I was an immediate fan. The tagged prices seemed fair. Asking in the upper hundreds on up for the, in most cases, diminutive drawings and constructions. Hmmm. I began to think that I may score one of these beautiful little pieces to take home but of course I had to check out the rest of the show first, just in case there was another Bill Traylor drawing for low money. Still feeling tough that I had missed out the year before.

a drawing by James Castle

I noticed the Traylor drawing I had missed out on was present and priced up by a few more thousand dollars. Way to go, Phil. Then I noticed that Carl Hammer’s booth was this year graced by two large, magnificent scrolls by Henry Darger. This was the year to promote Darger, as there was running simultaneously with the show, a Museum of American Folk Art exhibition of more than 60 of his paintings called “the Unreality of Being”. I was interested to note but not surprised that the prices of his work had gone up considerably.

invitation to the Henry Darger exhibit at the Museum of American Folk Art

So I made my way from booth to booth growing more determined by the second that a small James Castle drawing was in my future. I wasn’t going to miss out like last year by hesitating and calling home for a conference. No, I was going to head right back and make my selection. But what’s this? As I approach I see a group of the top dogs including Carl hammer leaving the booth. My heart began to sink a little, but I told myself to relax, it’s o.k. So the selection process may be a little bit easier. I hadn’t set my sites on any work in particular. I slid up to Jacqueline whom I had become quite friendly with during set up and asked her “what’s up”. “It’s the craziest thing. Those big wigs just came over, and bought my entire booth. Lock, stock and barrel. I’m finished here before it opens. I guess I could just pack up and go home, but I want to stay because I was so looking forward to being a part of the show.” Nice problem to have. Well there you go.

A James Castle construction

Are you beginning to sense a theme here when it comes to me buying, or should I say not buying at art shows? Well in this case she had plenty more work at home so I could have theoretically ended up with something else, but I chose to just let it pass, get on with the show, and concentrate on just doing my best to sell, sell, sell, for my friend Joy. The show went even better than the year before, and we were all very happy with the experience. Well, except for the missing out on the James Castle thing, but there you go.

Since then a splendid book on Castle has come out in 2009, coinciding with the exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art entitled “James Castle, a Retrospective”. I highly recommend it. I’ve got a copy. I love looking through it. It sits in place for the one that got away.